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Speaker 1: I'm serious this time, Cody said, leaning across the cracked

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picnic table. His breath smeled like sour candy, and his

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eyes looked huge behind his bent up glasses. It's a

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real ritual, real real I didn't just find it on

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Google or YouTube this time. I had to go through

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this whole creepy website you can't even find unless you

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do this thing with your computer. It's called a hidden

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browser or something. I snorted and picked at the peeling

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paint on the table. Yeah, just like the real ritual

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where you made me eat a crayon and told me

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my future would come true if I pooped out the

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whole thing in one piece. Cody shoved me with his elbow,

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but it barely counted as a shove. He was skinny,

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always had been, with elbows so pointy he could probably

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stab someone if he wanted. That was a joke. It

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is different. I did research this time, real research. Hows

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of it? I leaned back and squinted at him, trying

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to keep a straight face. Cody doing research usually meant

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he found some kid on a forum who told him

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how to summon a ghost with a spoon and a prayer.

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Thing was he was my friend, always had been, ever

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since kindergarten, when he wore a cape to school for

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three weeks straight and told everyone he had wizard blood.

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Cody had this thing about creepy stuff, monsters, spells, ghost stories,

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you name it. He collected weird facts the same way

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normal kids collect baseball cards. Every week he had a

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new ritual, or a new monster, or a new story

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about a haunted road he read about somewhere on a blog.

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Since I had stuck with him through all of it,

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most kids lumped me into the same weird bucket. We

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were the spooky kids, the ones who made paper mache

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monsters in art class instead of finger painting flowers. Teachers

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thought we were harmless, but other kids mostly kept their distance.

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I think they figured if they stood too close, they

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might catch whatever weirdness we had. Cody could be annoying sometimes.

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He always thought he knew more than every one else.

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He had this thing where he would keep secrets on purpose,

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just to drive you crazy enough to beg him for answers.

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But he was my best friend. So when he looked

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at me with that dopey, excited face and said, come on,

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it'll be awesome, I swear, I sighed and gave him

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a fist bump across the table. Fine, I said, but

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if I end up eating another crayon, I'm never speaking

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to you again. Cody grinned so hard I could see

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the spot whereas to the chip, last summer deal, and

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if it does work, this is the last one. Swear

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in your Pokemon cards. He agreed, and that's when I

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knew he was serious. We met up after school and

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got on our way. Cody beat me off the starting

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line by a mile, his sneakers slamming against the pedals,

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his bike rattling across the potholes so bad I thought

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his front wheel was going to pop off. I pushed harder,

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standing on my pedals and leaning into the race, but

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Cody had that manic energy you only get when you

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think you're about to do something hystoric. We cut through

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the neighborhood fast enough to make old ladies walking their

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dogs yell at us. Lawns blurred past, and I could

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smell fresh cut grass and someone grilling hot dog somewhere.

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Cody whooped when we hit the downhill slope by the

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abandoned video store, arms outstretched, coasting like he was flying.

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His house came into view at the end of the block,

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squat and square, a saggy basketball hoop clinging onto the

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garage by a single bolt. The lights were off. They

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were always off. His mom worked nights, sometimes entire weekends.

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His dad was never in the picture. Cody never said why,

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and I never asked whatever had happened. He left Cody

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half wild and half grown up in a way no

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one else our age really was. He pretty much raised

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himself on cereal and horror movies. We dumped our bikes

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in the dirt patch by his porch. The kickstands so

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useful it was a miracle they stayed up at all.

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Cody fumbled with his keys for a second before he

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got the door open. Then he turned and grinned at me.

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Prepare to be amazed, he said, puffing his chest out.

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I followed him inside. The house smelled a little dusty,

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a little sweet, probably from the mountain of snack wrappers

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Cody never got around to cleaning up. We headed straight

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for the basement door. Cody threw it open with a

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dramatic sweep of his arm, motioning me to go first.

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I took one step down and froze the whole basement

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had been transformed. There were candles arranged in neat little

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circles around a massive chalk pentagram drawn right into the

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concrete floor. Bowls of salt sat at every point of

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the star. We had junk, broken mirrors, little bones, Stacks

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of torn book pages sat all over the place. The

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air felt heavier, almost sticky, and it smelled like burnt

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matches and something else. Cody bounded past me and let

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down the last few steps two at a time. He

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grabbed a crumpled bag of chips from the arm of

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a ragged chair and tossed it my face armor up, soldier,

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he said, ye cannot battle age and evil and an

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empty stomach. The bag hit me square between the eyes

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and dropped to the floor. I bent down to pick

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it up, feeling my heart thump a little harder. This

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was way beyond anything Cody had ever done before. Again,

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usually his rituals meant chanting into a bathroom mirror with

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the lights off, or making me stack a bunch of

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river rocks in a circle and whispered to them until

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we got bored. One time, when he really talked it up,

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he confessed afterward that he had made the whole thing

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up because he thought it would be funny to tell

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people we thought a ghost by hitting it with plastic

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baseball bats. But this looked real. I crinkled the bag

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chip in my hands and gave him a look. He

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went full psycho for this one. Huh. Cody just grinned wider,

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bouncing on the balls of his feet, candles flickering behind him.

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Only the best for my last ritual ever, he said,

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swear it. Cody plopped down cross legged at the edge

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of the pentagram and motioned for me to do the same.

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I settled into the spot across from him, cradling the

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bag of chips he had thrown at me earlier. Crumbs

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stucked my fingers already, and I knew he would yell

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at me if I touched anything important, so I wiped

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my hands and my jeans first. Okay, Cody said, pulling

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a rumpled piece of notebook paper from his hoody pocket.

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The lines were crooked and written in his messy, tilted handwriting.

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He smoothed it out on the floor, squinting at it

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in the candlelight. You gotta read these lines together. You

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gotta mean it too, or it won't work. I stuffed

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a handful of chips into my mouth and gave him

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a thumbs up. He cleared his throat, and together we

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started mumbling through the words. It sounded like total nonsense.

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Some of it was in Latin, or at least what

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Cody thought Latin sounded like. Other parts were weird, gibberish phrases,

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things about opening doors and trading names. I mumbled along,

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half hearted, crumbs falling into my lap, trying not to

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crack up when Cody got super intense and threw his

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whole chest into the weirder parts. Every now and then

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he would stop and scurry around the circle, fixing a

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candle that burned too low, or pushing the salt line

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back into shape with the side of his shoe. His

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forehead was shiny with sweat, and his face had that

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scrunched up serious luck he got whenever he played board

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games or made spaghetti by himself. I was half way

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through another handful of chips when it happened. The pentagram

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on the floor pulsed. At first, I thought it was

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my eyes playing tricks on me. Maybe the candles were

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flickering weird because of the traft from the basement door.

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But then it pulsed again. A faint red cloak crawled

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along the lines Cody had drawn. I blinked and leaned forward,

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wiping my hands again, trying to make sure I was

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not just seeing things. Cody sat back on his heels,

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mouth hanging open, eyes huge. I told you, he whispered,

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bouncing a little where he sat. I told you. The

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glow deepened, steady and low, and the candles began to tilt,

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not flicker, tilt. Every tiny flame bent inward toward the

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center of the pentagram, like little soldiers getting pulled by

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invisible strings. The air got thicker. It pressed against my skin,

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against my ears, almost buzzing. I could smell something new,

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now sharp and metallic, under the burnt match smell. Cody

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clapped his hands once, beaming, it's happening. Finally, did you

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use glowing the dark chalk or something? I quizzed. He

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jumped up, ignoring my question and started pacing outside the circle,

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waving the crumpled notebook paper around. Okay, okay, okay, so

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there's some rules, he said, excitement pouring out of him.

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But trust me, it's worth it. I mean, you have

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to follow the rules. Duah, But there's a reward at

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the end, and it's supposed to be awesome, like life

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changing awesome. He darted back to the edge of the circle,

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crouching low. His voice dropped to a whisper. Even though

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we're alone and there's a fail safe, I can end

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it whenever, so don't freak out, all right, I'm not

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going to tell you what it is yet, though I

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know you you're chicken out the second you feel breezing

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your neck or something. I opened my mouth to argue,

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but the words froze in my throat. Something was moving

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behind Cody. I stared, heart hammering so loud I could

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hear it in my ears. A shape, black, rising slow

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out of the glowing center of the pentagram, arms unfurling

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like smoke, but heavier. It towered over Cody, without making

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a sound, just this huge, awful silhouette, when nothing had

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been a second ago. I tried to yell, tried to

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say his name. My tongue fumbled around in my mouth,

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pushing out broken pieces of words that did not make sense.

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Cody frowned at me, confused, his eyebrows scrunched together. Dude,

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what do you do? He never finished the sentence. The

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thing behind him moved fast. There was a sound, sharp

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and wet and cold. His head snapped sideways and tumbled

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off his shoulders before his body even knew what happened.

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His body wabbled for a second, knees knocking together, and

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then it collapsed in a heap beside the pentagram. Blood

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sprayed across the floor, across the chalk line, across the

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toes of my shoes. I hit the basement stairs so

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hard I barely touched the steps. My shoes slipped against

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the wood, and I slammed my shoulder into the wall.

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It scraped along the old, chipped paint, but I barely noticed.

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I kept moving, grabbing for the hand rail and yanking

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myself up faster. The second the basement door came in

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to reach and threw it opened so hard it banged

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against the wall behind it. I tore through Cody's living room,

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knocking over a lamp with a crash that exploded behind me.

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My chest burned already, but I could not stop. I

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skidded out the front door and sprinted for my bike,

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yanking it upright so hard the kickstand snapped off and

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skittered across the sidewalk. I threw myself onto the seat,

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peddling before I had both feet planted, knees wobbling, tires

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spitting gravel. As I took off down the street, my

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lungs heaved against my ribs. My legs screamed. My teeth

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were clenched so hard my jaw ached. It's fake, it's fake.

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He's pranking me. The words pounded against the inside of

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my skull with every spin of the pedals. Cody had

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set it up. He probably hired his older brother or

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some one from the high school to wear a costume

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to pull some sick horror movie tree s on me.

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He'll be standing in his driveway to morrow morning with

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a video on his hand, laughing so hard he could

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barely breathe. He would show everyone at school. The street

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lights buzzed overhead, casting puddles of orange across the sidewalk.

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As I tore through them, I blew past Missus Redfield's

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prize rose bush and clipped the edge of mister Tanner's

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garbage cans, sending them rolling out into the road behind me.

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I finally skidded into my driveway, tires squealing against the

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crack cement My legs gave out half way off the bike,

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and I stumbled to the front door, fingers fumbling with

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the handle. Before I managed to shove it open. The

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sound of my parents arguing hit me before I even

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stepped inside. It was the same fight. They always had

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money schedules, who forgot to pay the water bill. This

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time their voices tangled together into one long, messy noise

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that filled the house and rattled the windows. I bolted

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up the stairs two at a time. My hands shook

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so bad I could barely grab the railing, but I

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made it to my room and slammed the door behind me.

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I crawled into bed, still wearing my shoes. I yanked

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the blanket over my head and curled up as small

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as I could get, pulling my knees to my chest.

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The smell of sweat and dirt clung to my clothes.

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My heart thudded against my ribs so hard it hurt.

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He pranked me, That was all it was. He scared

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me so bad I thought it was real. That stupid,

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stupid glowing the dark pentagram, that fague monster suit, that

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blood was probably just ketch up or something. He bore

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to the Halloween store he was going to laugh about

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this forever. He was going to tell everyone. I was

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going to be the joke of the whole school. I

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squeezed my eyes shut and tried to slow my breathing.

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Tomorrow he would text me. Tomorrow, he would say gotcha

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and send me the video, and I would hate him

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for a week, and then we would be fine again.

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Tomorrow this would all be over. My parents kept arguing

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over groceries, just another part of the night. I could

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ignore if I squeeze my eyes shut hard enough. I

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wanted to wait for them to quit arguing and then

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ask about Cody. Maybe they go check, just in case.

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Then my dad's voice changed. It cracked, pitched higher. I'd

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never heard him make before. Something slammed downstairs hard. Something

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else toppled over right after it. Glass shattered, thick and ugly.

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My body went stiff under the blanket. I gripped the

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fabric tight enough that my knuckles popped. Another slam louder,

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this time, something heavy hitting the wall. Then nothing. Silence

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pressed against my ears until I could hear my own breathing,

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rough and shallow under the covers. I stayed frozen for

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a bit. My parents never fought. I didn't really know

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what to do, so I sat waiting for my mom's

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voice to come cutting through the quiet, waiting for to

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yell at my dad again, for the fight to pick

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up where it left off. Nothing came. I pulled the

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blanket off my face, Moving slow, I slid off the bed,

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feet hitting the floorboards so soft they barely made a sound.

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I crept toward the door and pressed my ear against it.

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Still nothing. My fingers trembled against the doorknob. The hallway

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outside stretched, shadows pooling at the edges, with the light

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from my room did not reach. I took one step out,

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then another. I leaned over the banister and looked down

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into the living room. For a second, my brain could

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not make sense of what I saw. The couch was overturned,

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cushions split open, stuffing spilling across the floor. The coffee

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table had been smashed into splinters, pieces of woods sticking

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up in every direction. Blood soaked into the carpet, a deep,

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dark stain that spread all the way to the walls.

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My parents were in the middle of it, twisted and broken,

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their faces stared up at the ceiling with wide, glassy eyes,

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mouths frozen open like they had been mid scream. Blood

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pulled under their bodies, seeping into their clothes, their skin

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already pale. I stumbled back a step, my hand clamping

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over my mouth before a scream could tear loose. In

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the far corner of the room, Crouched low near the fireplace,

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something moved. It was hunched over, folded in on itself,

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head cocked at an angle that made my stomach turn.

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Its skin was stretched, almost black against the shadows. Then

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it lifted its head, its eyes locked on to mine.

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I knew without a doubt it was the same thing

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from the basement, the thing that had taken Cody's head

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clean off his shoulders without a sound. It had followed

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me home. Cody had promised he could end it whenever

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he wanted. He had said there was a fail safe

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away to stop it. But Cody was dead, and I

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had no idea how to end it. I turned started

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running again, slipping once on the wood and smashing my

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shins so hard I almost fell. I caught myself on

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the railing and stumbled forward, crashing through the hallway, barreling

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down the stairs so fast my shoulders slammed against the wall.

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At the bottom. The creature had moved. I could hear

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it behind me now, something scraping across the broken floor.

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I hit the front door full speed, shoulder first, and

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it popped open so hard it bounced off the outside wall.

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Cold air slapped against my face. Pain shot up through

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my legs, but I kept going. Tears blurred against my

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vision until the trees at the edge of our backyard

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became one big smear of black. I headed straight for them,

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gasping so hard my chest felt like it would tear open.

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The old shack sat half hidden in the woods. It

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had been there since before I was born, left over

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from whoever owned the land, before our house was built.

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It smelled like wet wood and mold and raccoons. Cody

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and I used to play there when we were younger,

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before we got too old for secret forts. I dove inside,

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tripping over the threshold, landing hard on my hands and knees.

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I scrambled o'er the darkest corner, curling up behind a

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pile of rotten beams and torn up insulation. The air

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in the shack was colder than outside. It scratched at

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my throat with every breath. Dust stuck to the sweat

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of my face. I pressed my forehead against my knees,

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trying to fold myself into a ball so small nothing

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could find me. My heart beat against my ribs so

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00:23:32,680 --> 00:23:37,599
hard it made me feel sick, every thump louder than

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the last, until it filled my ears and drowned out

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everything else. I squeezed my eyes shut and tried to

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breathe without making a sound. I don't know what it is,

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I don't know what it wants, and I don't even

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know how to stop it.